Jennifer Lavier Jankovic Welcomes Visitors & Guests
David Leslie Introduces
New Member Jill Conroy
John Seigner
on Fellowship
This week's sergeant-at-arms David "Brom" Bromwich called our meeting to order, and Manon Mitchell led us in singing O Canada. Ali Gursoy delivered the invocation.
President Rick Erven thanked our meeting volunteers David Leslie, Jody Coenjarts and Ralph Lundberg.
Club secretary Jennifer Lavier Jankovic welcomed this week's guests and the two visiting Rotarians who joined us this week. She also acknowledged the seven club members with birthdays this week.
Did you know that our club has a long history of fundraising through barbecues? In fact, we put on four barbecues in the month of September. Our club owes a big thank you to all our volunteers who help to make the United Way Kickoff, Beat Beethoven, Valley View School and West Canadian barbecues great successes.
David Leslie introduced our newest club member Jill Conroy. Welcome to Rotary, Jill.
Announcements:
Our (un)Gala fundraiser takes the place of next week's regular Tuesday luncheon. We will be back at the Palliser Hotel on October 8th.
Barbara Young thanked the volunteers who helped at two barbecues on September 19th. On that day we hosted concurrent barbecues at Valley View School and West Canadian Digital Imaging.
Fellowship Director John Seigner provided an overview of some of the club's social events. He mentioned that the September 26th Frank 'n Stein has been replaced with a tour of the Peter Lougheed Centre's Neonatal Intensive Care unit.
While our regular Frank 'n Stein evenings have been moved to the Rose and Crown, John is planning to hold some of these events at our partner locations, including Calgary's Community Hubs and Calgary Reads.
He also reminded us that the club holds four large fellowship events each year. The next of these will be the club's annual Christmas party, which will again be held at the Calgary Golf and Country Club.
A special meeting will be held Tuesday, October 8, 2019 at the Palliser Hotel. At this meeting all active members in good standing will be asked to vote on a special resolution to amend the club's bylaws.
The special resolution will be to repeal the existing bylaws and replace them with the proposed bylaws that have been circulated to all members.
As an active member it is extremely important that you attend this meeting. Please make every effort to do so.
The period for nominations for the office of President for the Rotary year 2021-2022 is open.
The nominating committee will choose a member to serve as Club President. Any eligible member of the Club who would like to be considered for the nomination may advise the committee of his or her interest.
The nominating committee for President will advise the Club of its nominee for President at the last regular meeting of the Club in October.
Any additional nominations from members of the Club may be made to the Secretary of the Club. Nominations shall close at 12:00 noon on the day of the second regular meeting of the Club in November.
The Foundations Committee is presenting a second planned giving workshop for members wishing to create a legacy. The objectives of this workshop are to
Provide important information for Rotary members who are planning to create or update a will.
Encourage members to consider a charitable gift in their estate plans, including the three ways by which this can be done.
Inspire attendees by focusing on the reasons for making a legacy gift and all the tax advantages that are currently available.
Encourage Rotarians to consider making a legacy gift.
Please use the following link to register for this workshop, which will run from 6:15 to 8:30 pm.
The always popular and fun Dinner Club is happening again this year!
Participation in the Dinner Club requires a commitment to host one dinner for two or three other couples during the year, and to attend as a guest at the other dinners. Emphasis should be on meeting other fellow Rotarians and not on gourmet dining! It is vital to the success of this dinner club that everyone participates fully, including hosting and attending! Participants do get disappointed if they are not contacted or hosted. Please help to make it enjoyable for all.
This is NOT a gourmet club but a chance to meet and enjoy the fellowship of members. New members are particularly encouraged to participate. The suggested dates for the dinners are October/November 2019, February/March 2020 and April/May 2020.
Phil Libin introduced Mary Ellen Neilson, Executive Director of the Association for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured (ARBI). Ms. Neilson has previously addressed our club, and her presentation provided an update on happenings at ARBI.
ARBI began in 1972 when Alice Laine’s son Mel suffered a severe brain injury when struck by a hit-and-run driver. While the family was given no hope for recovery by the medical system, Alice's friend Audrey Morrice uttered four simple words, “I can help you.” Audrey lived up to her promise, and Mel relearned how to talk, walk, think and write, allowing him to return to an active life. Audrey, Alice and other volunteers began helping other brain injury survivors in the basement of the Woodcliff United Church and founded ARBI in 1978.
ARBI offers a unique on-site, intensive rehabilitation program that bridges medically delivered rehabilitation with community-based programs. These programs sustain long-term recovery, and every patient receives a personalized program based on his or her specific goals. The on-site program's individual and group activities may include traditional therapy, new methods for managing daily tasks, as well as social and emotional support.
Ms. Neilson reminded us that in 1996 our club was instrumental in building the Rotary Auditorium, which was a major milestone for ARBI.
More recently, Phil Libin led the club in an initiative to update the iPads used at ARBI, which are key rehabilitation tools for stroke survivors suffering from aphasia.
She also described a significant shift in ARBI's clients. In the past, brain injury survivors came to ARBI following two years of primary treatment. Today's clients typically arrive at ARBI two months after their injuries, and often arrive with their families in crisis. One of the main reasons for this is that a traumatic brain injury removes both the patient and his or her partner from the workforce.
One benefit of being a small organization is that ARBI can partner with other groups to achieve specific objectives. In addition to Rotary, ARBI has been partnering with the City of Calgary to improve accessibility for former clients, who can only be with ARBI for a year, that are returning to active life. ARBI has also partnered with the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association (CWIA) to provide services to brain injured clients whose first language is not English. Impressively, CWIA can offer support to ARBI clients in forty-two languages. ARBI clients can also benefit from the services of the Tetra Society, which is composed of retired engineers who find solutions that enable clients to overcome physical barriers. Tetra volunteers work with ARBI clients to build custom-made assistive devices.
Following a lively question and answer session, Phil Libin thanked Ms. Neilson for her inspirational presentation.
COG Staff - September 24th, 2019
Editor
Craig Henderson
Photography
Ralph Lundberg
Rotary Club of Calgary - Chartered April 1914 as Club #949
Suite 305, 105-12 Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2G 1A1
